вторник, 27 ноября 2012 г.

Impressions, October trip to Boston

This
October I was in the US for the first time on a two-week business trip. I am a
CTO of LangPrism, and my friend, CEO and
co-founder Alex Efremov and I were invited to participate in a Startup Access program in Boston, MA. This educational program
gives start-ups from Russia an opportunity to get acquainted with the Boston
entrepreneurship ecosystem, to establish business contacts, and to learn about
American best business practices.

Of course,
being in America for the first time was fascinating. So I have decided to write
down my thoughts and impressions – mostly for myself to remember, but also for
others. I chose to write in English so that my American and non-Russian friends
can read my notes and compare to their own thoughts.

To me, it
is always interesting to learn about how my own country is perceived by others.Here are some notes about Russia by MIT
Sloan faculty director, Bill Aulet, that he made after his trip to Moscow. I
decided to write my notes in similar fashion with clear points and brief
descriptions. Mostly I cover every-day things such as: lifestyle, food, and
also my experience learning about entrepreneurship in America. Please, also
note, that I was only in Boston and NYC, so I am pretty sure that things may be
different in the rest of the US.

1.Everything is organized and well thought-out.

The high
level of organization can be seen everywhere in public places. For example, in
the airport there are special workers, who manage the passport control queue,
making the whole process more efficient and less hectic. When you arrive at a
taxi spot, you cannot just get into any random cab, (this is what you can do in
Russia) - you must take the first one, typically with the help of a valet.
Moreover, you have to wait a little while, until all the people behind you are
processed. This is more organized, but takes more time than in Russia. Overall,
I found this system good, but quite unusual.

The number
of power outlets, and benches is exciting. Public restrooms are always clean
and well-maintained. There are a lot of small things that are very efficient,
make life much easier. In Russia, we still have a room for improvement. I doubt
you can propose any improvement quickly in USA.

2.People are very polite, friendly and always smiling

Of course,
I was glad to see it, and was readily responding, but the question “How are
you?” from an unknown person, like a shop assistant, was initially getting me
into the trouble. In Russia you can only get this question from your friend
(although typically they would ask you more personal questions) or from an
acquaintance, so I really didn’t know what to answer, sometimes giving no
response at all. BTW, later I started answering “fine” without any hesitation.

People are
always willing to help – whether you are in a mall or on a street with a map –
someone will be sure to offer help, if they see you are in a trouble. That’s
truly amazing.

Drivers are
very polite too. They always yield to you and each other. Driving in USA is
quite calm. I wish we had this culture in Russia.

3.There are no American cars on the street

This was
surprising, because almost all American cars are big trucks, and that was a
very small percentage of all cars I’ve seen. Japanese models dominate, and I
was very glad to see that my favorite Honda is probably the most popular car
along with Toyota, Subaru, Nissan, Lexus, and Infinity. BTW, we here in Siberia
got used to JDM (Japan Domestic Market) cars with right steering wheel, and
they are a little bit different in design. I would say that American Japanese
cars are styled as “old look”, even new models. JDM cars are more stylish and
aggressive – but this is just my personal opinion.

4.You should be careful when shopping

This
includes a lot of things. First, it is the price. You can buy something for a
very high price and later notice that you could have gotten the same thing much
cheaper at a different store. We had such occasions with some food, cereals, bananas
and some other items I don’t remember. In Russia price’ divergence in different
shops is very small. In USA you can buy, e.g., bananas for $0.6 per piece and
per $0.18 (I have seen it myself in shops of the same size).

Second, it
is tax. Frankly speaking, I still don’t understand when tax is included in the
price and when it is not. Why not to include or exclude it everywhere?

Third,
shops in USA do have discounts. So if you keep track of them, you can lower
your expenses significantly. This is actually a very nice thing.

Moreover,
shopping is seasonal. I wanted to buy swimming shorts to swim in the hotel’s
pool. I asked a shopping assistant of a large sports boutique and he told me
that the season has passed and I wouldn’t be able to buy them. And really, I
could not find them in the entire mall. It is different in Russia, where you
can buy everything regardless of the season.

So the
conclusion is that shops in USA have much more commercial sense than in Russia
– probably, it is about overall entrepreneurship culture. Maybe we will have
the same in the future, but for now I am 100% satisfied with shopping in
Russia. BTW, you can buy cheap branded goods in USA.

5.Food culture is different compared to Russia

People eat
everywhere. I suspect it is due to people being very busy. People eat on the
streets, in universities, during meetings, conferences, walking, sitting and
standing, etc.

This seems
strange at first glance, however, I quickly got used to it too. Not sure if
this is healthy.

A lot of
foods have different flavor compared to Russia (e.g., bread, milk). Soups are
not popular; fast-food is pretty popular. A lot of dishes are wrapped in a flat
tortilla. In Russia you would always eat things like salad from a plate, rather
than as a wrap.

6.Myth revealed: Americans are not fat

Most
Russians think that all Americans are super-fat. Few friends from Russia even
asked me this when I was in USA. This is completely not so. A lot of people are
in perfect shape. I have seen a lot of gyms, fitness clubs; we even had one in
the hotel. A lot of people go for a jog. In Boston you can see people jogging
throughout different times of the day everywhere. It is much more popular than
in Russia.

7.Business ethics is somewhat different than in Russia

Of course,
I couldn’t completely understand the ethics after only two weeks of business
meetings, although I have made a few observations. First, business people in
USA seem to be very friendly and willing to have a conversation…. if you speak
on an interesting topic. So I found it is easier to reach out to top notch
business people in the US than in Russia. They will never send you away if they
are not interested. They will just leave you referring to some pressing matter
or ignore your email silently in case they don’t want to talk to you.

Sometimes
we were characterized by our supervisor as being “too pushy”. However, we didn’t do any aggressive actions,
at least from the Russian perspective. Ok, so we should be even more polite in
the US. If others are interested, they will propose to collaborate. People in
USA will never tell you that you are wrong, never hurt you directly, as could
be the case in Russia. You should guess their doubts by such phrases as: “Hmm,
it is challenging to implement”, “It is a difficult task and I wish you good
luck”, etc.

8.Entrepreneurial community is gigantic

It seems
that the entire city of Boston consists of entrepreneurs mixed with scientists
and graduate students. You can have a random conversation about some deep
subject on the street. This is pretty nice for cultivating entrepreneurship and
discussing your ideas.

Every week
a lot of startup parties are held, where startupers meet with each other. I
participated in one – it was terrific! People, conversations, beverages and
startups – that was cool!

It is also
amazing to see how the entrepreneurial community is connected to the scientific
community. As far as I understand, this is a single alloy. Many successful
entrepreneurs teach in universities along with doing their business. Business
students are mostly oriented to incorporating a company after graduation to
commercialize their own ideas/developments created during their studies in a
university. MIT $100K pitch contests are confirmation of this. In Russia, in general,
innovation entrepreneurship community is relatively small and most students are
oriented to join a good company after graduation rather than create a business.
BTW, the Russian innovation entrepreneurship community is growing, so I expect
good results from Russian startups in 3-5 years.

I was
surprised by the fact that the annual revenue of companies created by living
MIT alumni is $2 trillion, which is greater than the GDP of Russia and is in
top 10 GDPs worldwide. And this is just the influence of one university. These
numbers were presented to us in a presentation by José J. Estabil (presentation
is googleable as “Entrepreneurship and Innovation: MIT History and
Observations”), you can find a lot of interesting facts about MIT.

In
conclusion, USA seems to be a nice place to live and work. Meanwhile I was surprised
by increasing collaboration between USA and Russia in innovational and
educational projects. I have seen a lot of people working on both sides and together,
putting all their effort in RVC and Skolkovo joint ventures. That inspires and
gives optimism for establishing a large Russian innovational entrepreneurship
community. Now it is just a matter of time.